San Juan mayor's wealth drops by P19.5M

By Michael Punongbayan, The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines - San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez had a net worth of over P58.667 million in 2012, which made her the sixth richest local chief executive in Metro Manila last year.

Her wealth, however, has dipped to P39.07 million, reflecting a decrease of more than P19.592 million.

Based on 14 different statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN ) obtained by The STAR from the Office of the Ombudsman, Gomez and Pateros Mayor Jaime Medina were the only Metro Manila local chief executives whose net worth had gone down.

All the others, based on their own declarations, grew richer in 2013 including Marikina City Mayor Del de Guzman who, despite being the poorest, now has a net worth of P3.310 million from only P2.310 million in 2012.

The decrease in Medina’s wealth was by only P400,000, making that of Gomez the most noticeable since she apparently lost almost P20 million in a year’s time.

Based on her 2013 SALN, she claims to own the same number of real properties in San Juan, Quezon City, Laguna and Cavite collectively valued at P12.975 million.

The huge decrease in Gomez’ wealth is more noticeable when it comes to her other personal properties and her liabilities.

While she declared the same worth of stocks amounting to P19.353 million, her jewelry went down from P10 million in 2012 to only P3 million in 2013.

The supposed value of her furniture and paintings also showed a decrease in value from P10 million the previous year to P3 million last year.

If some of these belongings or valuables had been sold, Gomez would have had more money to declare but on the contrary, her cash also went down from P9.138 million in 2012 to P7.761 million in 2013.

More glaring in her latest SALN is the big increase in her debts, considering that she had only P2.8 million in mortgages and personal loans the previous year but now has P7 million, including personal loans of P5 million.

Gomez, because of the decrease in her net worth, is now the eight richest mayor of Metro Manila with Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada – the father of her son, Sen. JV Ejercito – being the wealthiest with a net worth of P242.834 million.

Campaign contribution

Ejercito explained yesterday that the decrease in his mother’s net worth can be attributed to her generosity as mayor of San Juan.

“She contributed her personal money to my campaign, which explains the significant decrease,” he said when sought for comment on his mother’s net worth.

Ejercito, elected senator last year, had expressed disappointment that there were questions raised on his mother’s SALN.

“If there is an increase, it’s an issue, and if it’s a decrease, it’s still an issue?” he said. – With Christina Mendez